Behaviourism and Social Learning
Explain behaviour through conditioning, reinforcement, punishment, observation, identification and mediational processes.
How to study A-level Psychology
For every claim, identify the mechanism, supporting evidence, method, alternative explanation, practical implication and justified conclusion.
Core concepts
Concept 1
Classical conditioning explains learning through association between stimuli, while operant conditioning explains changes through consequences.
Exam cue: Map the stimulus, response or consequence precisely in the scenario.
Concept 2
Reinforcement increases behaviour and punishment decreases it; positive and negative refer to adding or removing a consequence.
Exam cue: Distinguish learning from observable performance at a particular moment.
Concept 3
Social learning incorporates attention, retention, reproduction and motivation, with identification and vicarious consequences shaping imitation.
Exam cue: Compare environmental learning explanations with cognitive and biological alternatives.
Targeted study blocks
Multi-board knowledge
Secure the shared psychological core
Secure behavioural and social-learning mechanisms, their evidence and applications without treating one board's named behaviour as the universal syllabus.
Scientific reasoning
Use evidence before reaching a judgement
Apply the correct learning process to the behaviour, then evaluate experimental control, ecological relevance, agency and competing explanations.
Risk pitfalls and guardrails
Calling negative reinforcement punishment.
Guardrail: Do not memorise a study as an isolated story or assume that one board's named research and option choices apply nationally.
Assuming observation always produces imitation.
Guardrail: Do not memorise a study as an isolated story or assume that one board's named research and option choices apply nationally.
Ignoring mental processes when explaining social learning.
Guardrail: Do not memorise a study as an isolated story or assume that one board's named research and option choices apply nationally.
Memory anchors
Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning learns an association between stimuli.
Operant conditioning
Operant conditioning changes behaviour through its consequences.
Negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement increases behaviour by removing an aversive condition.
Vicarious reinforcement
Vicarious reinforcement occurs when observing another person's rewarded behaviour increases imitation.
Mediational process
Attention, retention, reproduction and motivation mediate observational learning.
Checkpoint rule
Do the check-up only after you can summarize each concept in one sentence and identify one dangerous pitfall from memory.
Knowledge Check (after reading)
Short check-up to confirm understanding of this module.
Check-up Questions
In classical conditioning, what is learned?
A child becomes fearful of a clinic after painful injections. Which process best explains the clinic cue acquiring fear?
Answer all questions to submit.
Next step personalized recommendations
Continue learning
Move forward only after this module is stable.
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